These new species, Myosotis chaffeyorum (Chaffey’s Forget-me-not) and Myosotis mooreana (Moore’s forget-me-not) are described and illustrated in an article published today in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

These new forget-me-nots are extremely uncommon. Moore’s forget-me-not is currently known from a single spot where only six plants were found. Chaffey’s forget-me-not, on the other hand, is habitat-specific and it is only found at the entrance of small caves at the base of limestone bluffs.

Moore’s forget-me-not and a close up to its flowers. Photo CA Lehnebach, @ Te Papa

Because of the low number of plants and populations currently known for these species they have been rated as “Nationally Critical”. This is not unusual for New Zealand forget-me-nots and many of them are currently threatened.